Footsteps. 6
The year is 1078 and the world is young to us.Life so long ago now grants us with possibilities; it gives us thought
and reason. Her tarnish it with beliefs, unwilling to come to terms with
the figure of dumb luck, and ideal circumstance. For this we wage war,
we conquer and oppress, we kill and slaughter, main and burn, rape and
pillage, all against what could have been our brothers and sisters.But for all of our faults we have hope, we build if it is torn down, we
mend if it is broken, we stitch if it is wounded, we think when no voice
is spoken. We are scientists, explorers, conquers, and warriors. And we
are violent.We defend what is ours to the last, and fight for what we have not, we
squabble and bicker, but we survive. We linger when we are broken and
beaten, yet we still survive, whether it be from shadows or in light. We
linger.But most importantly of all, we learn. We learn many things, we learn of
books and the universe, of our world around us, of each other and
ourselves. Of species and of race, of creed and power, of men and
machines. . We progress. '.We are humans, and we are a tenacious bunch, and have yet to learn our own potential.But something has arrived that well help us see, and maybe another thing or two along the way....So many... So many years.Was it years? Or was it days? A hundred millennia? Or none at all?No... It was long, it's been so very long.She had lost track of time, or reason, of place or purpose. Why was she
here? Where was she exactly? Who was she really? Were these memories
hers alone? Was she alive? Was she dead? What did alive even mean to
her?She didn't know anymore, or was it that she didn't care anymore?So many questions... why bother with any of them.Pulling...It was something she hadn't felt in some time; the feeling of
weightlessness and cold space was ever-present to her. The only time she
felt warmth was when she drifted past a sun once.This wasn't warmth; this was like swimming out of a liquid resin into the open air.Falling...She felt it now, weight, gravity, mass. Foreign words almost. Sounded different, even in her ageless mind.She had been asleep for too long...How long...?Falling...Faster...She let her eyes open partway, she felt tired, even after seemingly
endless sleep she felt fatigued. Her mind was slow, her reactions
slower. She felt something brush against her.Wind...Her eyes open fully now, she feels wind rush past her face, and tear at her hair and ears.Hot...Burning...She is awake, flames lick at her body, wounds score her, but they heal
just as fast as they appear. She stares past the flames at the dark
starless mass below her. Faint light trickles down like a veil, white
masses float lazily past her, almost aglow in the ethereal light. She
crashes through one, expecting impact but only becoming drenched in
liquid.She splutters in surprise.Still Falling...She cannot focus, her mind reels as she is continuously burned, she is
weak still, she had slept for eons upon eons upon eons, and she was old
when this universe was young. She can't count accurately how much time
has passed.She sees lights below her, spread out and far, she tries to focus on
them but she is going too fast, and is too tired to slow herself. She
lets her momentum and gravity take her as her body burns.The air around her grows frigid as she falls ever faster and ever lower
yet her body still burns, she is a golden fireball streaking through the
nighttime sky, millions of eyes stare upwards as what some think of as a
holy sign from their nonexistent gods and messiahs, others see it as a
sign of the end times, and flee or repent. Others with more sense trace
the glowing ark of its trail, wondering bemusedly of what was the object
and it's nature, before they continue with their life.She lands, in an explosion of light and fire that caresses the sky,
turning night into dawn for the briefest of instants; the thundering
sound of the vacuum her impact created can be heard for miles around.Stunned and broken beyond recognition, she lays there, a mass of flesh,
bone, skin, blood, and hair. The living corpse struggles to heal itself
while it still burns, ice and snow melt beneath it as it sinks slowly
into the frozen ground.Within hours of impact, she still lays broken at the bottom of a deep
pull of melted ice water, twenty feet deep and sixty feet wide, the
surface of the newly formed pond quickly begins to freeze over. She is
still too weak to move and almost powerless to stop the deep-freeze from
enveloping her as well. Her body is trapped in an icy prison, her mind
slows to a crawl once more as she feels the grasp of sleep tug at her
eyes once again as she dreams of infinity....
[2281]
"C'mon Denise, we don't have all day, get your ass in gear!" The
earpiece spat violently into her ear, causing her to momentarily loose
her balance. She stilled herself, trying to find her center of gravity.
Falling would mean death up at this altitude."I'm coming, I'm coming." She hastily replied, she clipped herself to
the guide rope before digging her poles into the fine snow, leading one
booted foot with the other, she began the slow ascent."Hey, Travis, how much farther up we got?" Another voice echoed over her headset.
"Just another couple hundred feet, before the next base camp, we better
hurry, storms rolling in." Rivers, their leader promptly replied."You mean this isn't the storm?" Travis came over her headset yet again,
obviously incredulous at the news of even more severe weather
descending upon them. He was of course referring to the storm of ice and
snow that pulled at their bright orange parkas and struggled to find
cracks in their Thermoplastic mask/respirators.It was a perilous journey to the summit, constantly shifting ice-flows,
dead falls, and winds nearly reaching 107MPH in some places. The
constantly shrouded sky of dark clouds made it almost constantly night,
while the night itself became pitch black, and unyielding.Most of the time they struggled to see five steps to their front, and
that was in the best of situations, at the worst, they could barley see
their hands even if they were in the best of conditions. The pre-laid
guide wire was quite literally there only life line."Welcome to Mt. Fuck-your-face, please take a number and be seated,
we'll be with you shortly." Nelson grumbled into the headset. Travis
snickered in reply.
"Bottle it up Nel', whining won't get us there any faster." Snapped their lead, who's name was Johnson.Denise sighed as the bickering only increased, her legs began to ache in
protest at the constant strain. She felt as if she were carrying bricks
instead of sensitive coring equipment. She mentally kicked herself for
allowing her to be puled into this expedition, but she soon realized
that it would have been wrong not to sign up what really is a once in a
lifetime chance to see the Himalayas before their snow capped peaks were
ravaged by the storms and eroded away.The rest of the journey was made in silence, broken only by the
malevolent howls of the wind. Separated only by scant clothing that
seemed all to thin and masks that felt heavy and fogged their vision.They had sub-par gear in all respects, but it wouldn't have made all
that much of a difference if they had the best gear. The mountains were
brutal, they raged at the intruders ascending it's slope, an did
whatever in it's power to stop them.Yet, it failed every time. For they were humans. They were tenacious idiots, who knew not when to give up."Guys! I think I see the base camp!" Travis called out from in front.
"We're almost there!" Johnson confirmed from his position a few steps
ahead of all of them. The rest of the team couldn't help but feel
inadequate when compared to the modern-day Hercules of a man that was
Johnson. Ex-US Ranger Commando and all around mountaineering bad-ass AND
a staunch geologist, he was hard to compare with. The orange staked
arctic whether tents were a god-send, structurally reinforced with
carbon pylons and Kevlar shells they were held in place with two foot
long ground spikes, there were seven of them in total, each capable of
holding three people comfortably, but they only needed three, one for
the boys, one for Denise, and one for their equipment. ."Ok! Guys we made it, now we're gonna be set up in tents two and three,
gear goes in tent four, set your stuff down and meet in tent two, we
gotta plan for tomorrow." Johnson called out over the com-link, his
voice still distorted by the howling wend that pushed at them, sometimes
threatening to knock them over if they were not careful.And what sucked the most, was that it only got worse the farther they
went up. "All this, for some stupid Ice-things..." Nelson complained.
Hunched over as he undid his guiding-clip to the guide-wire. Travis
repeated the steps as Denise had long since unclipped herself, the
moment she caught wind of the next base-camp. .The task of setting things down was grueling, surprisingly enough. They
were all cold. And their limbs numb and stiff. They ached from the
endless movement upwards and in the snow that pain was only doubled. It
was no surprise when it took them a good ten minutes to simply remove
their packs in a cramped tent that seemed to be rather small.Jonson on the other hand. Of course, had no problems whatsoever. He
awaited the rest of the group in tent number 4 which was bigger then all
the others and could seat up to six people.The shuddering four crowded into the confines of the thermally insulated
tent, eager to be free of the storms grip. It was not much inside, a
single dim light hung from the top of the tent powered by a portable
arctic generator, as well as a small space heater.To them the small heater was a blessing that they huddled around like
modern day cavemen would huddle around a sheltering fire. They sat
silently, no words, for they were too tired to speak. The hike had
drained them. Food rations were passed about, stale tasting biscuits
with the texture of dried shit, and flavorless paste with the
consistency of soup. Warmth began to return to their limbs, a meal and
shelter-no matter how poor- always worked wonders."Bon' apatite'." Travis grinned, raising his tube to the rest of the group, who laughed in return.The clinking of plastic dishware and utensils was absent. They didn't
need them for this meal, hands would suffice, and the paste you ate from
the tube it came in. Nutrino paste: 'Yumariffic!'™ as the jingle went.LIES.Dirty, dirty lies.Couldn't argue with the results though, a single teaspoon had enough of the things you needed to last a week of grueling hiking.Still didn't change the fact that it was some of the nastiest stuff Denise had ever tasted.It was strange, hiking that is. They weren't lying about how they said
everything would be different. When she signed on the survival course
instructor told her that there was no room for mistake. That even the
simplest of routines became deadly, even eating.They couldn't afford to have their masks off for long; the carbon in the
air at this altitude was tremendous. Even in the tent there was a
higher ratio of carbon to breathable oxygen. They had to eat though, so
dinner consisted of quickly stuffing your mouth with a biscuit then a
glob of grey shit-like paste before pulling your mask back down and
chewing.Going to the bathroom... is equally confined.The re-breather's they wore we're the only things keeping them from
suffocating, and because of that, they were scrupulously taken care of,
they had a repair kit- each of them did and this kit contained
everything essential to maintaining and up keeping their own machines,
even some spare parts in case others lost theirs.Denise itched to take off the damned mask, but she knew that doing so
would mean asphyxiation. She sighed and stuffed to chew the disgusting
combination of tasteless crumbs and viscous paste. She swallowed, and
took a swig of warm water for her troubles."Yeah, I'm gonna miss this shit when we get off this mountain." Nelson spoke, leaning in closer to the fire."Really?" Travis replied, looking up at the researcher across from him. "The hiking or the food?" he inquired."The food, dip-shit what else? No! Of course the hiking- the thrill of
it. Death at every turn, challenging the wild, surviving, the list goes
on." He explained, unbuttoning and unzipping his heavy orange arctic
coat as he did so."Not many people hike anymore though, all the toxins and bad air. Also
not many things left to look at. Acid rain did away with most of the
forests and most of the wildlife. Eroded any monuments too.""I heard that back in the old day that there were forests that were over
a hundred miles long." Travis interjected, "That people would go and
live in them for an extended period of time, kinda' like bio-parks today
but you didn't need heavy survival gear, hell, they did it for 'fun'.""Yeah, people had it easier back then," Nelson nodded, rubbing his
gloved hands together, trying to get rid of the numbness that enveloped
his body. "You also didn't have to drink your own filtered piss. Fuck;
the things I would do for some fucking water instead of some sponge
piss!" He hissed, referring to the household Gaiagreen™.A miracle of science that can break down almost any liquids into
drinkable pseudo-water, it came in the form of an advanced genetically
engineered algae-like sea sponge that only needed a cool, dark
environment and any sort of liquid. It was also portable and edible,
able to sustain a person with the needed hydration for over a week."Hey, it's better than nothing." Johnson decided to speak for the first
time since entering the tent, preferring to mull over his meal in
silence. " 'Ask not for more, as you already have your answer.' Book of
reawakening." He somberly quoted, picking through his personal bag to
remove a small pocket bible. It was from one of those late 21'st century
religions that sprang up around the end of the third world war, Denise
was surprised at first, she hadn't met a religious person before, and
she found it hard to believe that the leader of this particular
expedition was religious.She didn't appear to be alone in this train of thought, as Travis
shifted around to face Johnson. "Hold on their for a second, what the
hell did you just say?""A quote from the Book of Awakening, more specifically a quote from Rin,
the Herald." Johnson answered, the aging veteran was composed in the
face of the quirky geologist. "Yeah, yeah, I got that much- what I'm
getting at is why the hell did you bring it up? Fuck, why the hell are
you a even here if your one of those creepy cult apocalypse worshiping
bastards."Understandably Johnson took offense to this, glaring back at the
Scientist from behind his mask. "Not every person who happens to believe
in something is automatically supporter of the End-of-Days Rebellion.
And I happen to be a staunch supporter of science, so get off my back, I
just brought up that quote because it seemed relevant." He curtly
responded before shutting himself off from the others, emerging himself
in his book.Travis shrugged off the rebuttal, instead focusing himself in catching
what rest he could, hunching over like a bridge troll. Nelson and Denise
instead continued on with conversing, covering a wide variety of topics
spanning from the journey so far, to what was yet to come.Soon the outside was immersed in complete darkness, and the four
stumbled out of the meeting tent, finding their ways to tents they had
been assigned. It was short work to roll out their sleeping bags and
doze off into a slumber about endless white expanses of snow and
crappy-yet-effective paste-based nutrition tubes.Such was the Future of Man.